Under new legislation, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Iowa's largest health insurer, may offer plans with the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation that skirt certain ACA requirements, the Des Moines Register reports.
Here are five things to know about the proposal, which is advancing in the Iowa legislature.
1. Iowa's Farm Bureau would provide a health insurance option to roughly 28,000 members with a lower price tag. However, that option would lack certain consumer protections under the ACA, like the inability for insurers to charge members more for pre-existing conditions. Wellmark BCBS would organize the plan.
2. Supporters of the proposal argue it would create a low-cost option for farmers who can't shoulder rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs on Iowa's individual market. Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Hill told the Des Moines Register some self-employed farmers are choosing to be uninsured rather than enroll in unaffordable plans.
3. Those against the measure fear it would further deteriorate Iowa's individual insurance market by bypassing federal law. Medica is the only option Iowans can choose subsidized individual health plans from under the ACA. If too many young and healthy consumers purchase a plan similar to what legislators are proposing, it could create an unsustainable individual market with no population to offset the cost of covering many older and sick individuals.
4. While the legislation only concerns Iowa Farm Bureau members, anyone can join the bureau by paying annual dues of $55 or less, according to the report.
5. Earlier this year, the Idaho Department of Insurance said it will allow insurers to offer "state-based plans," which would not be required to have all of the ACA's essential health benefits.
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